GCSE Religious Studies - Christianity (AQA) Flashcards
(10 cards)
Beliefs
Which one of the following is not part of the Christian Trinity?
A God as Brother
B God as Father
C God as Holy Spirit
D God as Son
1 mark
A God as Brother
Beliefs
Give two Christian beliefs about Jesus’ Incarnation.
2 marks
‘Incarnate’ means ‘in flesh / enfleshed / becoming flesh / made into flesh / taking human form / It is the belief that Jesus was God in flesh / God become man, etc / The Gospels of Matthew and Luke explain that Jesus was not born as the result of normal human reproduction / in Matthew 1:20–21, an angel explains this to Joseph that Jesus’ conception was by the Holy Spirit / The angel then refers to a prophecy in the Old Testament Book of Isaiah: ‘a virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and his name shall be Emmanuel’ (Isaiah 7:14) / ‘Emmanuel’ means ‘God with us’, so this means that the son of Mary and Joseph will literally be ‘God with us / God among us’ / This also means that Jesus is fully God and fully human / Also Jesus is God the Son / a member of the Trinity / Jesus was a human being for around 30 years / This means that he experienced human pains / it is part of the process by which God brought about the Atonement / the belief that Jesus died for humanity’s sins / that the purpose of the Incarnation is to help spread faith in God / to save people from sin / was so that Jesus would suffer as a human and experience death / to help teach humans how to live in line with God’s laws, etc.
If students provide more than two responses only the first two responses should be considered for marking.
Beliefs
Explain two ways in which the problem of evil and suffering influences Christians today.
4 marks
- All Christians experience evil and suffering / eg natural evils such as flood, disease, drought and famine, and moral evils such as murder, theft and arson / so Christians are influenced to avoid and/or to explain why these happen.
- One influence might be the problem of why an all-knowing, all-loving and all-powerful God allows evil and suffering to happen / and different Christians are influenced to give different answers / for example some believe that God has a plan for the universe / so they should simply trust God, even if they do not understand, and live a Christian life as far as possible.
- Some will give practical responses, eg suffering influences Christians to give practical help / eg by helping victims of crime / working as a doctor or nurse / joining an organisation such as Christian Aid / helping refugees / etc.
- Some argue that God is fair and is a just judge / so evil and suffering must be accepted by those who experience them in any way / God sends the wicked to hell and the good to heaven / so they will try to behave like the sheep in the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25).
- Some explain evil in terms of an independent power, the Devil, so Christians must stand firm in the faith to resist evil.
- Some will argue that believers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings / so they might want to unite against suffering.
- Some believe that evil and suffering are a punishment from God / for the sin of Adam and Eve in disobeying God in the Garden of Eden / by giving in to the Devil’s temptations / and that the punishment is a test of their faith / so they do their best to pass that test. * Some look at the world and conclude that good cannot exist without evil / so they might be influenced to accept that there is no other solution than to deal with whatever happens to them.
- Some conclude that suffering is a test of faith / so they deal with suffering by believing that God rewards those who pass the test.
- Some are influenced to believe that suffering is God’s way of educating souls / because it makes them aware of other people’s problems.
- Under some circumstances of personal suffering, some Christians find it hard to continue to believe in a loving God – it may result in them losing their faith.
- Some Christians might believe that the source of evil and suffering is due to the privation of God / lack of knowledge about God’s commandments, laws, or how to live in line with God’s ways, etc.
First way Simple explanation of a relevant and accurate influence – 1 mark Detailed explanation of a relevant and accurate influence – 2 marks Second way Simple explanation of a relevant and accurate influence – 1 mark Detailed explanation of a relevant and accurate influence – 2 marks To be a ‘detailed explanation’, the ‘influence’ of the way must be included.
Beliefs
Explain two Christian teachings about life after death.
Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
5 marks
- One Christian teaching about life after death is that the dead are resurrected / the Apostles’ Creed contains the statement, ‘I believe in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting’ / accordingly many Christians believe that the afterlife is bodily / and that it is forever / for eternity.
- There are different Christian teachings about what the resurrection body is like / some argue that the resurrection body cannot be the same as the body we have now (which rots, etc.) / many therefore accept St Paul’s teaching that the body is sown perishable but raised imperishable / it is sown in dishonour but raised in glory / it is sown in weakness but raised in power / it is sown a natural body and raised a spiritual body.
- Some ask what happens if the present body is disfigured or lost through fire, for example? / how will people recognise each other in the resurrection? / many Christians teach that what continues after death is the soul / which is non-physical and eternal (being non-physical it cannot be killed).
- Another teaching is that after death people are judged by God / and go to heaven or hell (or an intermediate state of purgatory) / depending on how the person has behaved on earth / as described in the Parable of the Sheep & Goats / the Judgement of the Nations.
- Some Christians might look to the teaching of Jesus where he says that in the resurrection people neither marry nor are given in marriage / but are like the angels.
- Accept different ideas about what life after death is like / eg a reuniting with those who have died before / with accompanying feelings of absolute / definitive happiness, etc. / being in a relationship with God and Jesus (who will sit at God’s right hand) and the angels / some might refer to the idea of a messianic banquet / some might suggest that life after death is beyond our understanding / some might refer to afterlife ‘events’ such as the second coming of Christ.
- Some Christians teach that each individual has a unique identity / which in some way will remain after death, etc.
Sources of authority might include:
‘For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ (John 3:16)
‘At the resurrection people will neither marry nor be given in marriage; they will be like the angels in heaven.’ (Matthew 22:30)
‘So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonour, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body.’ (1 Corinthians 15:42-44)
‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live.’ (John 11:24-25)
‘Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.’ (John 14:1-3)
‘I believe in…the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting.’ (Apostles Creed)
First teaching Simple explanation of a relevant and accurate teaching – 1 mark Detailed explanation of a relevant and accurate teaching – 2 marks Second teaching Simple explanation of a relevant and accurate teaching – 1 mark Detailed explanation of a relevant and accurate teaching – 2 marks Relevant and accurate reference to sacred writing or another source of Christian belief and teaching – 1 mark
Beliefs
‘Belief in Jesus is all that Christians need to be saved from sin.’
Evaluate this statement.
In your answer you should:
* refer to Christian teaching
* give reasoned arguments to support this statement
* give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view
* reach a justified conclusion.
12 marks [SpaG 3 marks]
Arguments in support
* All that Christians need to do to be saved from sin is to believe in/have faith in Jesus / Paul talks about this in Romans 3–5 / everybody is saved who has faith in Jesus (3:20–26) / they are treated as righteous because they believe.
* Christians are not justified by works (what they do) / nobody can earn righteousness and be saved / being saved from sin is not a matter of bargain or sale.
* The sin of Adam and Eve separated humans from God / so that all humans inherit the original sin of Adam and Eve / Jesus atoned for the sins of humanity by his sacrifice on the cross / but this does not mean that people can earn a place in heaven by doing good works / because they will always fall short of the standard set by Jesus / however, God loves humanity, and salvation is offered as a gift.
* Salvation comes through God’s grace and the Spirit / even though humans will always fall short of the standards set by Jesus / but Christians believe that grace is not earned but is given by the presence of the Holy Spirit in their hearts / and by this they will be saved.
* Paul concludes that ‘All are justified freely by God’s grace through the redemption that came by Jesus’, etc.
Arguments in support of other views
* If belief and grace were everything needed for Christians to be saved from sin, then everybody would be saved / but the Bible makes it clear that this is not the case / the Parable of the Sheep and the Goats, for example, makes it clear that those who do not live by God’s commands will go to hell (Matthew 25:31–46) / to be saved, something more is needed.
* Grace and Spirit are not themselves a certain way of being saved / good works are needed / meaning that Christians should obey God’s commands as well as they are able.
* Since Christians can never be perfect, God’s grace is what allows them to be saved even when they have sinned / so long as they repent and try to follow God’s commands in the future.
* If belief in Jesus were the only requirement for Christians to be saved / then they could break some or all of God’s commands and still go to heaven.
* Christians therefore need both faith and works to be saved from sin / this is what the Letter of James says (2:14–26) / if a fellow human being lacks food or clothing and someone says they love them but they do not feed or clothe them, that is useless / faith without works is dead / just as a body without spirit is dead, faith without works is also dead.
* Some Christians believe that baptism is needed to be saved from sin, etc.
Practices
Which one of the following describes the work of the Church in restoring broken relationships?
A Liturgy
B Persecution
Reconciliation
D Judgement
1 mark
C Reconciliation
Practices
Give two ways in which Christians celebrate Easter.
2 marks
Answers might include any of the celebrations after the end of the Lenten period and from the start of Easter Sunday celebrations, the Service of Light / preparation and procession of the Paschal Candle / Liturgy of the Word, including Old Testament readings / Liturgy of the Initiation, where some are baptised and some renew their baptismal promises / Liturgy of the Eucharist / Christians also celebrate, for example, by giving each other Easter cards / gifts of chocolate eggs or hardboiled eggs / eating easter eggs / participating in easter egg hunts / some let off fireworks / enjoy celebrating the Easter message with family and friends through Easter Sunday / attending church services to worship with others / to offer prayers of thanksgiving for the resurrection of Jesus, etc.
If students provide more than two responses only the first two responses should be considered for marking.
Practices
Explain two contrasting types of baptism.
4 marks
- Infant baptism / is where babies are baptised into the Church as a baby / so the decision is taken for them / the child is welcomed into the Church as soon as possible / in the belief that the ceremony removes original sin / the child is welcomed into the Church by its parents and relations and by the congregation / the child will often be dressed in white / with a special christening robe / the sign of the cross will usually be made on the child’s forehead with water / the water will be taken from the font / poured three times over the forehead / christening oil may be used in the ceremony to symbolise salvation / promises are generally made by godparents on behalf of the child to reject evil and turn to Christ, etc.
- Believers’ baptism / is where the decision to be baptised is taken by the individual / as an adult independently of their parents / and so the decision is taken by the person due to their own faith concerned rather than the parents’ alone / in the belief that a child is too young to understand the baptismal promises / and the child is too young to be aware of the idea of original sin / this kind of baptism takes the line that it is not the physical act of baptism that saves a child but a person’s individual decision to dedicate their life to Jesus / this can only be done when the person is old enough to make such a choice / rather than making the sign of the cross on the forehead, the ceremony involves full immersion in water / a baptismal tank or pool / the minister will usually give an address explaining the importance of baptism / the person baptised may give a personal testimony of faith / there are usually 3 full submersions in the name of Father, Son & Holy Spirit, etc.
- Some may refer to different ways of baptising per se, eg total immersion or water on the head only / this will apply to both infant and adult baptism eg Orthodox infant baptism or URC adult baptism.
- Some might also make a valid contrast between baptism in a font, or in a Baptist pool or by a river, etc.
Practices
Explain two ways in which CAFOD or Christian Aid or Tearfund helps the poor.
Refer to sacred writings or another source of Christian belief and teaching in your answer.
5 marks
CAFOD (Catholic Agency for Overseas Development)
* CAFOD, as the name says, focuses on overseas development, particularly Africa, South America, Asia and the Middle East.
* Its focus is on action without reference to faith, gender, or ethnicity.
* It aims to help those who suffer in any way / God intended the world’s resources to be for everybody / Pope Paul VI said that aid is not a case of giving a gift to poor people but giving back to poor people what was already theirs.
* It deals with emergency situations, poverty, war, climate change, famine, discrimination.
* It develops access to clean food and water / medicine / shelter / education / healthcare / programmes and services for the poor.
* CAFOD looks to provide supplies during crisis incidents / to help people rebuild their lives in the years that follow disasters overseas.
* It aims to equip communities to help themselves.
* It helps communities to rebuild after war / famine / disaster.
* It lobbies governments for funding.
* It lobbies employers to provide fair working conditions for their employees.
* CAFOD encourages Christians to pray for others living in poverty abroad / as they advocate that no one should be left without the support required to live life with dignity.
* Catholic parishes and schools support with prayer and money, etc.
Christian Aid
* Christian Aid provides both immediate and long-term aid where appropriate.
* Since the refugee crisis at the end of World War II, its aims have been to expose poverty and help to end it.
* Christian Aid asks world leaders to reverse climate change by changing from the use of fossil fuels to alternative cleaner energy sources / because climate change hits the poor most.
* It challenges systems that favour the rich and powerful at the expense of the poor and marginalised / for example tax-dodging.
* It tackles the sources of poverty / for example lack of education / poor farming techniques / poor health care / lack of clean water.
* It works to encourage Christian communities, churches, and individual Christians to hold poor communities abroad in their prayers / and provides example prayers to be used relating to worldwide social justice and development.
* It aims to bring immediate relief for those impoverished by disasters such as hurricanes and tsunamis.
* It helps communities to develop long-term self-sufficiency by improved food production.
* It helps the poor to sell their produce at a fair price / and to gain access to services and finance.
* It concerns itself with helping those with nutritional problems, malaria, and HIV, for example / and offers assistance with maternal and child health.
* It works with other organisations to fight poverty, e.g. Fairtrade Foundation & Stop Climate Chaos.
* It sends envelopes annually to all UK households to collect money for all its efforts to fight poverty, etc.
Tearfund
* Tearfund is an alliance of evangelical churches / it aims to help the very poorest people / such as those in the Biafra crisis of 1968 / it looks at global issues.
* It aims to care for people’s spiritual and physical needs / focusing on where the need is greatest.
* It goes to places of need in order to change poverty / eg by self-help by building wells for clean water / financial help by lobbying UK churches who put on events.
* It puts a major emphasis on prayer.
* It also focuses on what Jesus did, and aims to bring help to those who need it the most.
* It is not a charity / the focus is to promote self-help wherever possible.
* It encourages young people to help by taking a gap year to take part in various projects / going on mission trips.
* It focuses on creating churches as the centre of local communities / and has created around 70,000 churches in the last 5 years, etc.
Sources of authority might include:
‘If you give a banquet, don’t invite friends or rich neighbours, invite the poor, the lame and the blind, then you will be repaid at the resurrection.’ (Luke 14:12-14)
‘You lack one thing, sell what you have and give it to the poor.’ (Mark 10:21) ‘Blessed are you poor, for yours is the Kingdom of God.’ (Luke 6:20)
‘The Spirit of the Lord is on me, because he has anointed me, to proclaim good news to the poor.’ (Luke 4:18)
‘And the king will answer them, “Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me”.’ (Matthew 25:40)
‘So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.’ (James 2:17)
‘But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.’ (Matthew 6.3-4)
‘Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord, and will be repaid in full.’ (Proverbs 19:17)
Practices
‘Following a set structure of worship is the best way for Christians to get close to God.’
Evaluate this statement.
In your answer you should:
* refer to Christian teaching
* give reasoned arguments to support this statement
* give reasoned arguments to support a different point of view
* reach a justified conclusion.
12 marks
Arguments in support
- Worship that follows a set pattern or routine becomes very familiar to worshippers / becomes a tradition over centuries / so they can hope to understand God by repeating the routine and meditating about its meaning.
- The liturgy will generally be led by a priest, and what the priest says and does will help worshippers to understand God / for example in the Catholic Mass, worshippers will become used to the Eucharistic Prayer which uses the words of Jesus at the Last Supper / which helps them to understand that Jesus died in order to save humanity from sin.
- Liturgy enables people in any country to feel part of worship even when language is unfamiliar.
- The Lord’s Prayer is generally used in structured worship, and it contains many pointers to how Christians might understand God, for example: that God’s name is sacred, and that God requires Christians to forgive others who have sinned against them / also the prayer closes with the statement that the kingdom, power and glory all belong to God.
- Some may refer to the different understandings of the bread and wine in the Eucharist, for example those in which the bread and wine are literally Jesus’ body and blood and those in which they express spiritual truths about God / in either case worshippers may experience Jesus as a living presence / gain insight into the nature of God, etc.
Arguments in support of other views
- Liturgical worship may be contrasted with non-liturgical, informal worship / where understanding God is more personal.
- For example house churches are Christian groups who meet to worship in private homes / since they believe that this form of worship is more in tune with the practices of early Christians / where believers hope to understand God through informal (or less formal) prayer and worship.
- Members of house churches and other groups may share their own understanding and inspiration / and many believe that the Spirit is present at such meetings to inspire people to understand God’s wishes.
- In such meetings, people might pray aloud / to share what they think/understand about God / conversely Quaker worship is mainly silent / since different groups have different beliefs about how to understand God.
- Some groups will share their own preferred readings and interpretations of the Bible / since many believe that God can be understood in different ways / and that this understanding depends on how a passage strikes the reader.
- Some aim to understand God through private / informal prayer / since again, this is seen as a more personal attempt to understand God / in which the worshipper can ask God for gifts such as healing or inspiration.
- Some churches aim to reproduce the disciples’ experience of the Spirit at Pentecost / so may sing, dance and speak in tongues in order to understand God in a direct sense / where the emotional impact can produce a variety of different behaviour such as music, dance, calling out / this kind of worship is known as ‘charismatic’ (‘led by the Spirit’) / and in the Pentecostal Churches worshippers will worship like this in large arenas where there will be a ‘laying on of hands’ to effect cures through God’s power.
- Some will use both liturgical and non-liturgical worship / there does not have to be a divide between the two / and much may depend on the situation of the worshipper / understanding God is not just where the worshipper approaches God, but also where God enters the life of the worshipper.
- Some might argue that no one can fully understand God / but they may experience God better with one form of worship or another.
- Some might refer to actions Christians might take to draw closer to God outside of set structures of worship / such as engaging with charitable volunteering or other community work in line with Jesus’ teachings, etc.
